The lead singer of the late 1970s and early 80s prairie powerhouse band ‘Streetheart’, has died after undergoing cardiac surgery in Winnipeg.

Kenny Shields was 69.

(Daryl Gutheil, Spider, Kenny Shields, Jeffrey Neill, Herb Ego)

While performing on Canada Day in Sherwood Park, Alberta, he appeared confused and was forgetting lyrics.

Shields returned to Winnipeg where doctors said he was suffering from hypoxia, which was causing a deficiency in the amount of blood and oxygen getting to his brain.

Bandmate and close friend Jeff Neill says Shields had been dealing with heart issues for years.

Streetheart’s hits included, ”Action,” ”Look in Your Eyes,” and a cover of the Stones ”Under My Thumb”.

The band won a Juno Award for most promising group in 1980, earning six gold albums, four platinum and one gold, and was inducted into the Western Canadian Music Association Hall of Fame in 2003.

Neill said of his friend, ”At his peak, there was not better singer/frontman on the planet than Kenny Shields and I would throw Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart and anyone of that ilk into that category.  He was magic.”